The present invention relates to a wiper blade that is suitable for wiping, for example, a windshield surface of an automobile.
A wiper blade of a wiper apparatus provided in a vehicle generally includes a lever member coupled to a wiper arm, and a blade rubber retained by the lever member. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-132884 discloses a wiper blade, which includes first and second retaining hooks projecting toward a surface to be wiped and arranged at an interval along the longitudinal direction of the wiper blade so as to reduce the weight and the amount of material of the lever member. The blade rubber includes accommodating grooves opening sideways along the blade rubber (that is, in the wiping direction). The retaining hooks retain leaf spring members mounted in the accommodating grooves, and prevent the leaf spring members from falling out of the accommodating grooves.
In cold climate areas, the blade rubber might stick to the surface to be wiped for freezing. In this case, for example, when the wiper motor is activated so that the wiper blade starts moving from a wiper stop position, the blade rubber is pulled by force acting in the opposite direction to the starting direction (movement direction), between the surface to be wiped and the wiper blade at part of the lever member between the first and second retaining hooks.
In this case, since the accommodating groove and the leaf spring member are exposed, if the interval between the retaining hooks is great in particular, the leaf spring member might fall out of the accommodating groove when the blade rubber greatly deforms between the retaining hooks (more specifically, when the blade rubber deforms in such a manner as to be twisted while being delayed from following the movement of the retaining hooks).